…and I’ll be a better developer because of it.
“Life comes at you fast”- The Nationwide Life Insurance Guy
If you’re reading this I’m alive and grateful for it. The past few weeks have been nothing but terror and anxiety for many populations around the world. Before I dive into my experience in one little corner of the earth, safely dwelling in my bubble, I want to acknowledge the countless individuals being affected immensely by COVID-19. I am extremely blessed to have something to focus on during this time and a community via Zoom and Slack I can reach out to. Many are socially isolated and trying to figure out basic provisions. This article is in no way meant to take away from the severity of our current pandemic. I am young and potentially able to combat coronavirus, therefore, I’m privileged. Not all people have that same luxury at the moment and it has been devastating.
February 3rd, 2020 I passed my technical interview and was accepted into Flatiron School’s software engineering in-person boot camp. A few months prior I had spent countless hours scouring the internet for success stories before deciding to go “all in” and commit to applying to a few programs in the area. Flatiron was hands down my first choice. Their pre-work was loaded with information and helped me to decide whether this journey was going to be a good fit for me. I fell in love with learning to code before I had even talked with an advisor.
On the first day on campus, I immediately knew I‘d made the right choice. WeWork’s Silicon Valley-esque campus had the swankiest decor, nitro cold brew in abundance, kombucha on tap, Sweetgreen mobile delivery and the most amazing spaces to work. The instructors were extremely welcoming and positive to my cohort and I as were embarked on “the coder’s journey” and prepared to change our lives (and evidently the way we see the world).
This was all before we knew that most of the world would soon be on quarantine lockdown.
We were called into a campus meeting that Friday after a challenging day of coding to hear the dreaded (yet highly anticipated) words “going remote”. The in-person experience was over just as quick as it had started and we were all worried. Aside from worrying about our health and the health of our family members, the overarching question for all of us was “How in the heck am I going to graduate from this program from home?!”. Flatiron’s instructors continued to reassure us that everything would be okay and they were going to adapt to the circumstances. I believed them but I didn’t believe in my ability to keep up with the pace of the program having no traditional background in computer science.
I had come from the visual arts, so this boot camp was a complete leap of faith that required me to sacrifice employment and a social life for 15 weeks. “I need this in-person instruction”, is what I kept telling myself. I didn’t know how I was going to be productive and keep up with my group projects sitting in my living room for weeks on end.
Flatiron’s instructors continued to reassure us that everything would be okay and they were going to adapt to the circumstances.
Everyone was slightly peeved about the move to remote but we all understood that the situation was completely unprecedented and beyond our own personal goals. Monday rolled around and we had started instruction via Zoom and Slack. The wonderful thing about Flatiron is that they already use an online interface with their students for assignments, schedules, etc., so transitioning wasn’t as crazy as we expected. The true Goliath we faced was a personal one.
My cohort did bonding activities through video conference during week 1 in order to maintain the teamwork atmosphere we would receive on campus. A lot of us would express our feelings in these meetings and I realized I had a lot in common with every one of them. We all had an issue with productivity from home.
The true Goliath we faced was a personal one.
With the rise of social media and endless notifications, it is somewhat easy to get distracted. Let’s be honest, Instagram and Facebook wouldn’t be as profitable if it wasn’t highly addictive and distracting. These things are meant to catch your attention, hold on to it for dear life and then seduce you into interacting with it. My cohort mates and I were at home trying our best to focus on a boot camp while remaining productive, all within the midst of a pandemic. I’m now on week 2 of working remote and I can definitely say there have been some major shifts in perspective. I no longer see this as a hindrance (or at least I am working my hardest to remain positive), I see this as a win.
I can explain.
There are a number of soft skills that every developer needs to be a “no-brainer” hire and a few of them are being strengthened throughout this process. There is a “half-full” mentality one can adopt to make it through.
Below are the skills that doing a software engineering bootcamp during COVID-19 is teaching me:
Adaptability
As I have quickly learned from my instructors, constant Google searches for documentation and Stack Overflow browsing, languages are ever-changing and they don’t care what developer gets left in the dust. You need to keep up! The world is being faced with major changes and adaptability is key for the survival of many and also the prevention of economic collapse. As a coder, that same abrupt change is ever-present in the tech industry. With being faced with such an abrupt change to the instruction I have no choice but to adapt, graduating from the program depends on it.
Tenacity
Learning to code can be exciting at times, and frustrating at times(mostly the latter). A positive mindset will only get you but so far. It takes grit and determination. I’ve had to burn the midnight oil more than I would have liked to but I trust the process. I understand that is what it takes when you are attempting to do in 4 months what many do in 4 years. On top of an already ambitious feat, my cohort and I have continued to persist through this pandemic. We have clung on to Flatiron School and refuse to let go (possibly for our sanity right now).
The ability to be productive when no one is looking.
I’ll tell you a secret….you ready for this one? When I’m at home with my two cats, Netflix, and Playstation it’s harder than ever to finish my deliverables for the day. I’m an adult, this should not be so but it is. I have had to quickly shake this habit because I simply have no time to mess around on things other than code. I am always coding. I literally have started dreaming in code. Not only am I highly productive now, but I look forward to getting up and working on code. The past few nights have been filled with last-minute “aha” moments where I will think of a new cool feature to build in my team’s CLI, cool gems I think are useful and future app ideas. This is the most work I have done from home and I feel like I’ll be fully prepared for any possible remote work opportunities after graduation.
The ability to collaborate with a team.
There is nothing more valuable than being able to work together with other people. Our entire industry is built on great minds coming together to make something happen. Through the added strain of scheduling time for group work and collaborating through Slack and Zoom (whose devs are literally saving the world now), I have been learning how to collaborate within a team through intense pressure and time restraints. Deadlines approach fast and everyone is laser-focused and working together.
Great research skills.
Whether you are a seasoned dev or new to everything code you know that this is #1 on the list of necessary soft skills. Researching is everything. I google everything and I am unashamed because EVERYONE is doing it. Being removed from in-person instruction has forced me to be partly self-taught (as all coders are) because it may take more time to get someone to help you out via video chat than it is just to look it up on the internet and recent documentation and forum posts. I have definitely leveled up my code resources and my Google game has increased dramatically. Don’t know the answer? Google does. It always does. The amount of information I have been able to learn simply by having to flex my researching muscles has truly helped me solve complex problems that I would never have imagined solving a week prior.
I may be socially isolated and I may have no time for a social life anyway right now but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. For myself and the rest of my cohort, this is life-changing. I truly believe we are lucky to have each other during a time of high anxiety and we will come out stronger, more adaptable coders because of it. As the saying goes:
Pressure makes diamonds.
Pressure also makes an amazing Rubyist as well! (Had to sneak at least one code pun in)
Meet the Author
Deijah is a cyber risk and compliance analyst, member of Data Visualization Society, and is also a developer. She is a closet screenwriter, cinephile and mom of three fur children with her dear husband. She is on a journey of self-teaching french and living one day at a time.
“Life is like a box of chowc-litts…you never know what you gonna get” — Forrest Gump
This article was in no way sponsored by Flatiron School or any of the aforementioned technologies. All illustrations are provided by unDraw.
